Ghee in coffee is a cup of black coffee blended with a spoonful of ghee. On USDA figures, each tablespoon of ghee adds about 112 calories and 7.9 g of saturated fat. No human trial we found has shown better focus, energy or weight loss than plain coffee. What the drink reliably gives you is a richer, heavier cup with more calories.
Below: how to make it, its calories, and how the popular claims hold up against the studies we could read. If you have a heart condition, high cholesterol, diabetes or any reason to watch your fat intake, follow your doctor's advice before making this a daily habit.
At a glance
- A tablespoon of ghee (12.8 g) adds about 112 kcal and 7.9 g of saturated fat to a cup of coffee on USDA figures; a teaspoon adds about 37 kcal.
- Blend, do not stir: ghee is a fat and separates in coffee unless it is whipped into a foam.
- A 12-week trial of butter-and-MCT coffee in 60 adults found no difference in BMI, LDL cholesterol or apolipoprotein B against plain coffee.
- Two small crossover trials, one using ghee, found no benefit for memory or alertness over black coffee; the lift comes from the caffeine, about 95 mg a cup.
- A published case report describes LDL cholesterol rising from 156 to 232 mg/dL after months of daily butter coffee; one case cannot prove cause, but ask your doctor if you watch your cholesterol.
What is ghee coffee?
Ghee coffee is brewed coffee with ghee added, usually blended until frothy rather than stirred in. It is a version of the drink known as butter coffee. The best-known recipe, "Bulletproof Coffee", uses grass-fed butter and medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil; at least one research team has tested a version made with ghee instead.
A 2023 review of the evidence by Goldman and colleagues, in the journal Beverages, says the original drink was intended to replace breakfast and is often taken on low-carbohydrate or ketogenic diets. It lists the claims made for it: sharper focus, more energy, less hunger, "fat burning" and better productivity than ordinary coffee.
How do you make ghee coffee?
Brew a cup of coffee, add a measured spoon of ghee, and blend until the top turns pale and foamy. Blending matters because ghee is a fat and does not dissolve in coffee; a spoon simply stirred in stays separate. Start with a teaspoon, not a tablespoon, until you know whether you like it.
- Brew the coffee. Any method works: filter, French press, espresso topped up with hot water, or instant.
- Measure the ghee. Use a measuring spoon, not a scoop from the jar. A level teaspoon is a sensible first try.
- Blend. A jug blender, a stick blender or a handheld milk frother all work. Take care with hot liquid in a closed blender jug.
- Taste before adding more. Milk, cardamom or sweetener each add calories the table below does not count.
- Drink it straight away. The foam is part of the point.
What does ghee in coffee taste like?
It tastes like black coffee with a rounder, heavier body and a cooked-butter note from the ghee. Blended, it looks like a latte with a thin foam, though it contains no milk. The texture is the bigger change: researchers testing a ghee and MCT coffee could not blind their volunteers, because it differed so clearly from black coffee.
That detail comes from a small Canadian trial by Crampton and colleagues, presented in 2021, whose authors note that the distinct taste and texture prevented participant blinding. The volunteers knew which drink they had, which matters when the outcome is how full or alert they say they feel.
How many calories are in a cup of ghee coffee?
A 237 ml cup of black coffee with one tablespoon of ghee comes to about 115 calories on USDA figures: about 2 from the coffee and about 112 from the ghee. A teaspoon of ghee brings the cup to about 40 calories, and two tablespoons to about 227. Almost all of it is fat.
The figures come from USDA FoodData Central. For ghee we use "Butter oil, anhydrous", the fully analysed record for milk fat with the water removed: 876 kcal and 61.9 g of saturated fat per 100 g, with a tablespoon weighing 12.8 g. For coffee we use "Beverages, coffee, brewed, prepared with tap water": 1 kcal per 100 g, with an 8 fl oz cup weighing 237 g. The arithmetic is shown in the table.
| Cup (237 g brewed coffee) plus | Ghee added | Calories from ghee | Calories from coffee | Total per cup | Saturated fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No ghee | 0 g | 0 kcal | 2.37 × 1 = about 2 kcal | about 2 kcal | 0 g |
| 1 teaspoon ghee | 12.8 ÷ 3 = 4.27 g | 4.27 × 8.76 = about 37 kcal | about 2 kcal | about 40 kcal | 4.27 × 0.619 = 2.6 g |
| 1 tablespoon ghee | 12.8 g | 12.8 × 8.76 = about 112 kcal | about 2 kcal | about 115 kcal | 12.8 × 0.619 = 7.9 g |
| 2 tablespoons ghee | 25.6 g | 25.6 × 8.76 = about 224 kcal | about 2 kcal | about 227 kcal | 25.6 × 0.619 = 15.8 g |
To compare, the Goldman review gives the commercial butter and MCT recipe as 230 calories and 21 g of saturated fat per 237 ml cup. The ghee and MCT drink in the Crampton trial, 15 ml of each in 10 oz of coffee, came to about 250 kcal. A one-tablespoon ghee cup carries roughly half those calories. Ghee in coffee counts towards your day's fat like ghee on food; our guide to how much ghee per day the ICMR-NIN guidelines suggest sets out the limits.
Does ghee coffee help with weight loss?
There is no human evidence that it does. We found no study of body weight or body fat in people drinking ghee coffee. The one longer trial we found, which used butter and MCT oil for 12 weeks, found no difference in BMI against plain coffee. On the evidence we could find, the weight-loss claim rests on nothing.
The 12-week study, by Hoang and colleagues at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and published in 2024, randomised 60 healthy adults to coffee or coffee with butter plus MCT oil; 41 completed it. At 12 weeks the groups did not differ on any measure, including apolipoprotein B, LDL cholesterol and BMI. The authors call for larger, longer studies.
The "fat burning" idea leans on a 2016 university thesis described in the Goldman review: twelve students burned more energy at rest, and more fat, in the hour after butter and MCT coffee, though the comparison with black coffee was not formally tested. The reviewers note the drink's extra 200 to 550 calories likely offset the rise, and that burning more fat does not necessarily mean losing body fat.
Does ghee coffee improve focus or energy?
Not compared with plain coffee, on the evidence so far. Two small randomised crossover trials tested memory and other thinking tasks and found no benefit of the high-fat coffee over regular coffee. Where volunteers did feel more alert, black coffee did the same, which points to the caffeine both drinks contain rather than the fat.
The Crampton trial is the one that used ghee. Six regular coffee drinkers each drank, a week apart, 10 oz of coffee with 15 ml each of MCT oil and grass-fed ghee, or the same coffee black. Digit-symbol test scores did not differ. These were preliminary results from six people who finished before COVID-19 curtailed in-person research: very thin evidence either way.
The Goldman review's verdict: from a very small evidence base, no significant improvements in cognition, alertness or energy compared with regular coffee. The caffeine is the same either way: about 95 mg in a 237 g cup on USDA figures (40 mg per 100 g × 2.37).
Does ghee in coffee keep you full or in ketosis?
It may make you feel fuller for about three hours, probably because it adds calories. In the Crampton trial the ghee coffee, at about 250 kcal, left people feeling fuller than black coffee at about 1 kcal. Ketosis studies used MCT oil or coconut oil, not ghee, so they say nothing direct about a ghee-only cup.
That finding comes with limits: six people, preliminary data, unblinded volunteers. Another trial in the Goldman review, using coffee with a little MCT or coconut oil and no more than 90 calories, found no difference in fullness; the reviewers suggest the calorie gap may explain it.
On ketones, a 2021 German study by Baumeister and colleagues gave seven young adults coffee with 10 ml of MCT oils or coconut oil, with or without caffeine. Ketones rose most with the eight-carbon MCT and with caffeine, while hunger rose over four hours in every version. Ghee was not tested.
Is ghee coffee safe to drink every day?
Nobody knows; the evidence on regular use is very limited. One 12-week butter and MCT trial found no difference in blood lipids between groups, while a published case report describes LDL cholesterol rising after months of daily butter coffee. A daily cup adds saturated fat every morning, so follow your doctor's advice if diet affects any condition you have.
The case report, by Toklu and colleagues in 2015 and summarised in the Goldman review, concerned a 59-year-old man with high cholesterol who, after stopping his statin, began one to two cups a day. Over several months his LDL rose from 156 to 232 mg/dL, and he was advised to stop. As the review says, a single case cannot establish cause. Both trials that checked also recorded stomach discomfort, such as nausea or abdominal pain, with the high-fat drinks.
Our article on what the evidence says about ghee and cholesterol covers the trials and guidelines in detail. If you do make ghee coffee, use a ghee whose batch report you can read: our A2 bilona ghee is churned from curd and clarified over a wood fire, and each batch's lab report is published before it ships.
The short version
Ghee coffee is black coffee blended with ghee, and it tastes richer and heavier than plain coffee. On USDA figures a tablespoon of ghee adds about 112 calories and 7.9 g of saturated fat, bringing a cup to about 115 calories. No human trial we found shows better focus, energy or weight loss than regular coffee, and the fullness it gives may simply come from the calories. Drink it if you like the taste, measure the ghee, and follow your doctor's advice if you are watching your cholesterol or fat intake.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Butter oil, anhydrous. FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (2019). Beverages, coffee, brewed, prepared with tap water. FoodData Central (SR Legacy).
- Goldman DM, Lambert K, Quarshie M, Craddock JC (2023). Assessing the Validity of Bulletproof Coffee's Claims. Beverages.
- Crampton K, Jackson G, Streight H, Little J (2021). Investigating the Effects of a High-fat Coffee Beverage Containing Medium-Chain Triglyceride Oil and Ghee on Cognitive Function and Measures of Satiety. Current Developments in Nutrition.
- Hoang TD, Hatfield JS, Nadolsky K et al. (2024). The Effects of Medium-Chain Triglyceride Oil and Butter on Lipid Profiles. Cureus.